Does anyone have a home made fix for getting the wheels back on the tracks in remote areas of the layout?
I use Code 83 track and could purchase a bunch of Atlas rerailers, but at $7 apiece I would rather not. Plus, the rerailers certainly don’t look prototypical.
I notice that if you simply run a freight car or passenger car back and forth over a turnout, the wheels usually realign thenselves, so I got to thinking that perhaps some sort of a guard rail could be added to the existing track as a form of home made fix.
Instead of putting a band-aid (rerailers) on your problem you need to solve the problem. Find out what is causing the derailments and fix it. You’ll be better off in the long run and enjoy the hobby more.
Obviously not having the derailment to begin with by making the track in remote areas as perfect as possible is the first step. But even so a strategic rerailer or two in remote or hidden areas makes a lot of sense. Stuff happens/Murphy’s Law, etc.
August 2003 Model Railroader has Pelle Soeberg’s re railer article which would not cost much to make. But just as with the Atlas rerailer it does not “look” like much of anything you’d see on the prototype.
One thought, either with the Atlas or Soeberg re railer, would be to somehow confine it entirely within a girder bridge to hide or minimize the unprototypical sight lines. Even a rather small stream or ditch might have such a bridge. I have seen an article, and I do not recall whether it was MR or RMC or the NMRA Scale Rails, where the guy took the Atlas rerailer and cut the middle out of it because it does not have to be the full 9" snap track length to do its job.
I was the O/P back in April who asked a similar question. First off you get 3 re-railers per package so thats not really a bad price. As I was advised and correctly so re-railers are an absolutel must no matter how good your track work is. You can hide them in places that can’t easily be seen and where in full view disguise them as crossings. I do agree that from what your discribing using a re-railer is like putting a band aid on a gun shot. Good track work is an absolute must and all tuenouts no moatter who sells them and what brand etc. need to be fine tuned or tweeked. Filing points etc. for smooth operation. I have gotten to the point where I even have a flat block with fine emery paper on it for smoothing out the rails where they connect to the track. Like Tony Koester said in his interview, ( I am paraphrasing) make sure all your track work is absolutley perfect before proceeding to scenicing and structure building. A common mistake we have all made at one time or another.
The Atlas reraliers are $7 for 3 of them, not $7 a piece. I concur though that the thing to do is fix the track. I fought with a derailment issue for 3 weeks but finally fixed it. I do have one reralier in a tunnel as a safety precaution but I hope never to have to use it. It’s more for me, if I put a car on the track wrong and send it into the tunnel.
Nothing wrong with track work but used a re-railer for small stream bridge going into a yard.
THIS IS NOT COMPLETE since the extra boards are not installed nor are they painted but you get the idea. They can also be used on roads crossings with a little work.
